~PESANAN SEORANG TEMAN~

Ini adalah potongan daripada sebuah kitab imam al-Ghazali , (thanks to Adibah Najihah)

“With eager desire you are setting out to acquire knowledge, my friend; of yourself you are making clear how genuine is your lunging and how passionate your thirst for it. Be sure that, if in your quest for knowledge your aim is to gain something for yourself and to surpass your fellows, to attract men’s attention to yourself and to amass this worldly vanities, then you are on the way to bring your religion to nothing and destroy yourself, to sell your eternal life for this present one; your bargain is dead loss, your trading without profit.

On the other hand, if in seeking knowledge your intention and purpose between God most high and yourself is to receive guidance and not merely to acquire information, then rejoice. The angels will spread their wings for you when you walk, and the denizens of the sea will ask pardon from God for you when you run.

Here, then I give you counsel. If you find your heart drawn towards it and your soul docile and receptive, go ahead, make for the end, launch out into the oceans of knowledge. If, on the other hand, you find that when you turn to the matter seriously, your heart tends to procrastinate and to put off actually doing anything about it, then you may be sure that the part of your soul which is drawn to seek knowledge is the evil-inclined irrational soul. [So setan guys] Satan’s aim is to unite you with those ‘who most lose their works, whose effort goes astray in this present life though they think they are doing well’

‘O God, I take refuge with Thee from knowledge which does not benefit, from the heart which does not humble itself, from the act which is not lifted up to God, and from the prayer which is not heard’

People who seek knowledge are of three types. There is the man who seeks knowledge to take it as his traveling-provision for the life to come; he seeks thereby only the Countenance of God and the mansion of eternity; such man is saved. Then there is the man who seeks it FOR THE HELP IS GIVES IN HIS TRANSITORY LIFE IN OBTAINING POWER, INFLUENCE, AND WEALTH, and at the same time is aware of the ultimate truth and in his heart has some perception of the worthlessness of his condition and the vileness of his aim. Such man is in jeopardy, for if his appointed comes upon him suddenly before he repents, a bad end of life is to be feared for him and his fate will depend upon the will (of God). A third man has been overcome by Satan. HE HAS TAKEN KNOWLEDGE AS A MEANS TO INCREASE HIS WEALTH, THE BOAST OF HIS INFLUENCE AND TO PRIDE HIMSELF ON HIS NUMEROUS FOLLOWING. BY HIS KNOWLEDGE HE EXPLORES EVERY AVENUE WHICH OFFERS A PROSPECT OF REALIZING WHAT HE HOPES FOR THIS WORLD. Moreover, he believes in himself that he has an important place in God’s eyes because with his garb and jargon he bears the brand and stamp the scholar despite his mad desire of this world both openly and in secret. Such men will perish, being stupid, and easily deceived, for there is no hope for their repentance since they fancy that they are acting well.

Only through piety is anything really achieved; only the pious are guided. Piety designates carrying the commands of God most high and turning aside from what He prohibits, and thus has two parts.” (al-Ghazali)